Jury: Millersburg man not guilty in alleged abuse case

Thursday

Apr 3, 2014 at 4:00 AM

By CHRISTINE L. PRATT Staff Writer

MILLERSBURG -- Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty.

That was the verdict rendered Wednesday afternoon by seven women and five men on the three-count indictment charging Frank Ross with three counts of child endangering. The verdict brought tears to the eyes of Ross, who immediately turned to hug his attorney.

The jury's verdict came after four hours of deliberation and 2 days of testimony and arguments in Holmes County Common Pleas Court.

The charges levied against Ross, 35, of 228 College Ave., Wooster, stem from a Jan. 24, 2013, incident in which a 2-year-old girl's arm was broken while she was in his care at their home, along with the girl's mother, in a mobile home along Mechanic Township Road 260.

Ross, who did not testify, told investigators the child's arm broke after she had been chasing a cat, slipped on a book and fell, causing her right arm to go through a wire dog cage.

During a video-recorded interrogation by Holmes County Sheriff's detective Sgt. Jim Henry, Ross maintained the story, although after nearly an hour Ross said, "Maybe I grabbed her afterward. I don't know if I grabbed her around the arm."

Although frustrated with the child, he said he did not intend to hurt her, but firmly picked her up.

The only defense witness to testify, Dr. George Nichols said the child's break is typical of someone who falls and uses their hands to break their fall. He said the role the cage played in the incident was "irrelevant." He said the type of break sustained by the child could not have been the result of Ross picking her up or disentangling her from the cage.

"I don't think the cage has to do with anything. It's where the kid's arm struck. The cage construction is irrelevant," Nichols said. "Any fall is how the fracture occurred."

A criminal investigation was launched in February 2013 after it was reported the girl was pulling out sections of her hair.

While Dr. Daryl Steiner said the fracture was the result of abuse, he testified he could not make a determination if such was the case with the bald spot on the child's head.

He said none of the testimony rose to being beyond reasonable doubt and there was no evidence Ross' actions were reckless.

"The statements he made ... he was manipulated. He began to doubt himself and what he knew," Baserman said of Ross' interview with Henry.

Although disappointed with the outcome of the trial, Holmes County Assistant Prosecutor Sean Warner said he accepts the verdict.

"I felt that we presented all the evidence we had, which I thought supported a conviction, but I respect the jury's opinion."

Equally thankful of the time invested by jurors, defense attorney Mark Baserman Jr. said, "We're very satisfied with the outcome. There are no winners or loser in criminal law cases; there are just outcomes. I think the strongest part of the (defense) case was causation. I think our expert's theory of causation was determinative."

Reporter Christine L. Pratt can be reached at 330-674-5676 or cpratt@the-daily-record.com.